Give the gift of girl power

Every day is a good day to encourage reading and learning. And every day is a good day to buy books for kids. The holiday season is a time when many of us are looking for book recommendations for the young canstockphoto20702129 (1) girl power booksones in our lives.

With four grandkids and six grand nieces and nephews, I buy a lot of kid’s books. Of these ten young people, six are girls. When looking at books for the girls, I’m particularly interested in finding ones that will inspire them and teach them to be strong, smart girls who can be and do anything they aspire to. And, of course, I like to encourage an interest in STEM fields.

A few of the books I’m looking forward to buying for my granddaughters when they are a little older:

  • Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, by Rachel Ignotofsky, highlights the contributions of women to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
  • Herstory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World, by Katherine Halligan, celebrates inspiring women who have changed the world.
  • Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, by Francesca Cavallo, is a collection of bedtime stories of extraordinary women both past and present, each told as a fairy tale.
  • She Persisted and She Persisted Around the World, by Chelsea Clinton, describe the struggles of 26 remarkable, diverse and tenacious women.

There is a great series by Andrea Beaty that I’ve already introduced to my oldest granddaughter who just turned six. I gave her Rosie Revere, Engineer last Christmas. The other two books in the series are Ada Twist, Scientist and Iggy Peck, Architect.  Rosie, Ada, and Iggy are friends who pursue their passions with persistence while celebrating and learning from their failures.

If you have young girls to shop for this holiday season, I hope you will consider one of these books. And if you are looking for organizations to support as you consider your year-end charitable contributions, take a look at Girls Inc. With local organizations in cities across the country they inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Their message couldn’t be any clearer.

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Yes you can: encouraging girls to pursue IT careers

Yes you can: encouraging girls to pursue IT careers

Last week I spoke with high school and college age women about the Journey to a Successful Career in Information Technology. I gave the keynote at an event jointly sponsored by the Student Resource and Women’s Center and Career Services at Washtenaw Community College. The event was part of their women in non-traditional careers series. It was fun to do – having a chance to encourage and inspire the next generation of information technology professionals.  And it was great to see some familiar faces in the audience – a number of women from our IT team decided to attend as well.

I started my talk by profiling real women in real IT jobs today – 8 women from our IT team.  Their positions include service desk, business analyst, programmer, database administrator, data architect, project manager, training manager, and infrastructure manager. I described what they do in a typical day and the skills they need in each position. One comment overheard after the talk: “This is exactly what these girls need – to see that women can and do work in IT.  Then they can picture themselves doing it, too.” Continue reading